I think I started this painting about four months ago. It started as one large box car and quickly became a row of small boxcars. Then I lost interest in it. Something about it wasn't keeping my attention.

So I set it aside and moved on to other paintings.

Then, about three weeks ago, my wife and I were rearranging our dining room, which is where my painting "studio" is set up. She pulled the still-unfinished train painting out and said, "You should finish this. It's cool."

We placed it on top of a set of shelves to get it out of the way. And it looked good sitting up there.
"Yeah, I should finish it," I said, suddenly finding interest in the train painting again.

So, I finished it and brought it to the Parisian Promenade. It's a large painting, so I had it sitting out front of my booth. The painting grabbed a lot of attention from passersby. And, it sold.

Which brings me to this conclusion: I'm going to take a break from grain elevators. I love those buildings, but I'm excited to do more work with trains. I've also been kicking around a idea or two for large cargo ships. And, I'm going to turn some of my focus away from the plains and direct it to the desert southwest. I'm even going to make a run at painting an adobe, or two.

I still have one more grain elevator to paint -- a commission for a friend and former co-worker. After that, this one track mind is going to try other routes.